Raag Darbari

An overview of Gillian Wright’s translation of Shrilal Shukla’s Raag Darbari.

Raag Darbaari is a novel that captures ordinary life in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. Although this novel is not very widely read in many regions in our country, the reason why Gillian Wright chose to translate it is because no other English novel has come so close to depicting a rural village in north India. In Raag Darbari she could feel the smell of the soil of Uttar Pradesh emanate from every page.

Raag Darbari is a product of Shrilal Shukla’s observations of society and sense of humour as a result of which it became a best seller over thirty years ago. The novel deals with the various levels at which our society is corrupted. Interestingly, unlike any of the novels of its kind, this novel neither criticizes the corruption that is corroding our political and social system nor provoking us into doing anything about it instead, it looks as though it is celebrating the corruption and humourising the sad plight of people who get caught in the whole process. This is the governing theme and essence of the novel.

We get the taste of this essence in every sentence beginning from the very first page where an ordinary market place is described. Not only does it manage to make a foreign reader laugh but the Indian reader too who is very used to such a market scenario and often has looked at it with contempt cannot help but find humour in the new way in which Indian markets have been portrayed.

The central character is a young man whose name is Rangnath who has come to stay at his uncle Vaidyaji’s place owing to illness. He is city educated and therefore has never been exposed to village politics. Since the reader is from the same background as him, it is easy for them to understand Rangnath’s predicament and feel the same towards people and situations the way he does.

Another principle character is Ruppan who is Vaidyaji’s youngest son, a born politician putting his political caliber on display through the numerous movements he has led in school and is in no hurry to get promoted to the next level in education as he has been in the tenth grade for three years now. It is clear for all to see that he is Vaidyaji in the making who would one day define new dimensions of corruption.

Vaidyaji’s elder son is Badri, the Wrestler who is concerned only about his physical strength, has no interest in politics but from time to time helps Vaidyaji in coercing people to submit to Vaidyaji’s will, not that Vaidyaji needs it since whether a person believes or doesn’t believe in God in Shivpalganj, there is no soul who dare question the authority of Vaidyaji.

Vaidyaji as his name suggests is a doctor who over the years has acquired the kind of power very few have dared to challenge in the village of Shivpalganj, one of them being Ramadhin who politically tried to counter Vaidyaji in every way possible and aspired to displace Vaidyaji from the ruler’s throne and see himself there some day. Vaidyaji is so powerful and iconic that the centre of power in Shivpalganj is considered to be Vaidyaji’s sitting room where discussions on the village’s working is held, rules are formed and implemented.

Wright’s translation of descriptions of people, places, contextual history and situations is marvelous but one wonders whether it could have been better had some shortcomings been taken care of. For example, the parts where the Principal got into the mode where he sermonized and appeared to be self-righteous in the process of which he would start talking in Awadhi could have been done in a different way. The method Wright used was to use old English which was unnecessary and came under criticism. What could have been done instead was for normal English to be used, as, after every time the Principal spoke so, it was mentioned that he said it in Awadhi. So either the old English or the statement of it having been spoken in Awadhi could have been done away with. The presence of both is unnecessary and the reader cannot help but find it redundant.

Also, there are instances where a culturally rich term has been used which may sound alien to the foreign reader only to be explained immediately in the very same sentence. It could have been put in a footnote. The fact that the explanation is contained in the same sentence is a poor example of a nearly ideal translation as in this way the translator is adding her own input into the sentence originally framed by the author which is not a sign of an adequate translation. For example, in the text when it was being explained why Sanichar’s name had been changed from Mangal, Wright says that Mangal means ‘Tuesday’ or ‘auspicious’. In the current context the right word to be used was ‘auspicious’. The availability of another meaning is misleading and unnecessary. Also, this explanation is given in the same sentence. Had it been given as a footnote there would have been a scope for better understanding of the context thorough the details given.

The events that follow after Rangnath’s arrival in Shivpalganj show in great detail the social condition typical of any village in north India. One thing that strikes the reader is the shocking absence of women which is an indication of how insignificant they are in the society. There is only one woman mentioned from time to time in the novel who is Bela and that too purely as an object of desire and later scorn of the society. Ruppan is in love with Bela and has not entirely tried to hide it. Later during a court trial Bela is called a woman of bad character in the presence of many people from the village where Bela herself is not present so that it can be verified whether the accusations that have been hurled at her are true or not. It is taken for granted that they must be true which further proves the fact that women have no say in anything. Thus Bela obtains a bad name in the village and the culprit is let to go free. At this point it is revealed that Badri is in love with Bela and that they’ve had an affair going on for some time.

While Vaidyaji makes a great show of how accepting he is of this inter-caste alliance between Badri and Bela by declaring that he would be happy to get them married, in the absence of public he shows Badri his anger and disappointment with the whole affair. While we are already used to the placid viciousness of Vaidyaji we are still let down when he shows this discontent. This shows that the reader still yearns for some sign of a saving grace in this god-forbidden village.

Another underlying theme is the helplessness of the people not in power. They are literally treated like mere pawns in this game of politics whose only job is to live according to Vaidyaji’s whims. The ones who don’t, no matter how hard they try they never get what they want. The only person we see who belongs to this category is Langar, who again as the name suggests is lame. This is a sad reflection of a society that addresses people according to their inabilities. Langar has resolved to get some documents made through the right channels without shelling out a single paisa as bribe. As a result we see that what could have been done with the help of five rupees in a couple of weeks couldn’t be done till the very end when he got the one and the only opportunity to get his documents made but missed it owing to illness and never got his job done. After this he lost heart and decided to go back to his village and live the remaining of his life in peace. Langar is the symbol of the common man who is an idealist. He represents the small minority of this country who has resolved to live in the right way doing the right things but in the end gets caught in the rut and never manages to come out of it effectively.

What happens in the end is what we hadn’t expected of Vaidyaji’s sons. While Ruppan who had already been considered to be the future Vaidyaji turned against his father, Badri on the other hand joined politics on the insistence of his father or rather to keep the coveted position in the family. There had been no promises of change or redemption from the very beginning so the reader could predict that nothing could happen of this village, it would always remain the same and no matter which external force or revolutionary idea threatened to uproot the corruption here, Shivpalganj would always remain Shivpalganj.

This is a delightful book and due credit should be given to the translator for bringing out the satire and pun quite effectively despite the few inadequacies. No matter how light-hearted this book is we must not disregard the seriousness of the issues which one easily can owing to the light narrative of the novel. Although amusing, the fact that such novels are still relevant is a very sad commentary on our society.